Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
It takes time to build a good herd. Good farmers continuously monitor their animals to identi-
fy their best producers, and the ones that are not suited for success. As you gain experience
buying, selling, and breeding animals, the quality of your herd will continue to improve.
Necessary Nutrition
A cow needs about 26 pounds of dry matter intake (DMI) each day. Cattle also need this daily
dry matter intake to obtain the necessary amounts of various nutrients. The biggest of these
necessities is protein. Cattle usually require about 7 to 14 percent crude protein in their dry
matter intake, according to the ATTRA publication “Cattle Production: Consideration for
Pasture-Based Beef and Dairy Producers.” Dairy cattle, cows in late-term pregnancy, lactating
beef cattle, and pregnant heifers have higher nutritional needs than animals such as stocker
cattle. Cattle that are not growing, such as early-term pregnant cows that reach maturity or
healthy bulls, have lower nutritional requirements.
You can have cut pasture grasses, hay, or silage analyzed to learn the nutritional content of
your herd's food supply. The National Forage Testing Association certifies labs to ensure the
accuracy of forage tests. You can see a list of these labs on its website
(
www.foragetesting.org
). If you get your forage analyzed, the key measurements are total di-
gestible nutrients (TDN) and crude protein (CP). Forage with 10 to 13 percent CP and 55 to
60 percent TDN should provide adequate nutrition for all members of your cattle herd, ac-
cording to ATTRA. Typical pastures in the vegetative stage, and even the boot stage, meet
these benchmarks. Legumes in the vegetative state can contain more than 20 percent crude
protein.
On high-quality pastures, cattle may need to be supplemented with fiber such as soybean hulls
to help them more efficiently use protein. If pasture is lower quality, cattle may need to be
supplemented with protein such as cottonseed meal. You can feed these supplements by either
leaving them in the pasture or by using portable feeders such as troughs you can move around
the pasture.
Cattle can get most of their nutritional needs straight from pasture grasses. But you also will
have to provide your cattle with mineral supplements to replace salt lost in urine, help pro-
duce milk, develop fetuses, and help with general body functions. These generally are given
in a premixed ration, either as loose granules or in block form, which are placed in mineral
feeders. You may need different mixes at different seasons. For example, in spring when grass
